The Evolution of Domain Names and Their Impacts on Trade Mark Rights

In 2001, the World Intellectual Property Organisation identified various points of tension arising from the use of trade marks in the Internet Domain Name System. With the addition of more than 1000 alternatives to.com Top-Level Domain to the global Internet, some of those tensions remain and new tensions are created as trade marks’ function and value in the Domain Name System evolves. This chapter considers the changing use of trade marks in the Domain Name System, in particular from the introduction of new generic Top-Level Domains and their impacts on trade mark rights.